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tv   Reliable Sources  CNN  March 17, 2013 8:00am-9:00am PDT

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this year japan marked two years since an earthquake and supneumy killed 16,000 people and displaced many, many more. the tsunami damaged the fukushima national plant which sparked a debate over nuclear energy and how safe it is. that brings me to the question of the week. what percentage of electricity consumption in the united states comes from nuclear energy? is it, "a," 1%. "b" 5%, "c" 14% or "d" 19%? stay tuned, we'll tell you the correct answer. go to cnn.com/fareed for more of the gps challenge and lots of
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insight and analysis. also, follow us on twitter and facebook. also, remember, if you miss a show, go to itunes.com/fareed. this book of the week "double entry." by jane gleason white. i never thought a book about accounting could be fascinating, but this one is. it explains how the invention of finance led to the beginnings of modern capitalism, trade, renaissance and the global economy. all because of double entry bookkeeping. read the book and you'll be convinced. american media spills a lot of ipg on polls that tell us which nations hate america. which ones tolerate america and which ones really like us. but much less is known about how americans feel about our brothers and sisters abroad when we even deign to think about them. gallup has a new poll that does just that, with some surprising
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results. america's most hated nations. number one, the palestinian authority. number four, syria. number three, pakistan. number two, north korea. and the nation americans feel least favorable about, drum roll, please, iran. so, whom do we love? in fifth place, france. then japan, then germany. well, i guess those last two show that americans can really a get over the past. great britain gets second place and we don't have the luxury to travel very far to find our buddy, canada is number one. i guess we've entirely gotten over the war of 1812. does anybody even remember what it was about? hint, if it had gone the other way, there would be no canada today. the correct answer to our gps challenge question was, "d," nuclear energy provides 19% of u.s. electricity consumption. by comparison, solar energy
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provides 1% of our electricity and wind energy accounts for just 3%. before we go, viewers in north america, don't miss the premiere of jake tapper's new cnn show "the lead" tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. eastern. the show is sure to be smart and engaging, just like jake. thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. i will see you next week. stay tuned for "reliable sources." i'm candy crowley in washington. "reliable sources" is just aahead. two star football players in steubenville, ohio, have been found guilty of raping a west virginia teenager. this story attracted national attention and the judge just ruled a few minutes ago. listen in. >> in this case, you know, regarding the charges of rape,
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both defendants ma'lik richmond and trent mays department of youth services for a minimum of one year and a maximum until you're 21. >> this was played out in juvenile court that's why there was a judge and no jury. he decided on the verdict, as well as talking about the sentence. we want to go now to cnn's poppy harlow in steubenville and covering this trial. i cannot imagine having just watched this on the feed coming in. how emotional that must have been sitting in the courtroom. >> i've never experienced anything like it, candy. it was incredibly emotional and incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students literally watched as they believe their life fell apart. one of the young men, ma'lik
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richmond when that sentence came down he collapsed, collapsed in the hands of his attorney, walter madison. he said to me, my life is over. no one is going to want me now. very serious crime here. both found guilty of raping this 16-year-old girl at a series of parties back in august. alcohol fueled parties. alcohol a huge part in this. but trent mays was also found guilty on a second count and that is of felony illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material because he took a photograph of the victim laying naked on the floor that night. trent mays will serve two years in a juvenile detention facility. ma'li richmond will serve one year on that one count that he was found guilty for. i want to let our viewers listen because for the first time in this entire trial we have now heard from the two young men. trent mays stood up, apologizing to the victim's family in court after him ma'lik richmond. listen.
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>> i would really like to apologize to her, her fammy, my family and community. no pictures should have been sent out or be taken. that's all. thank you. >> anything you'd like to say, ma'lik? >> i would like to apologize. i had no intention to do anything like that and i'm sorry to put you guys through this. i'm sorry. >> i was sitting about three feet from ma'lik when he gave that statement. very difficult to watch. you know, something that came up throughout this sentencing.
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ma'lik's father had gotten up to speak. his father was in a lot of trouble with the law and in trouble with the law. his father stood up and said i feel responsible for this and i feel i wasn't there for my son. he approached him, he hugged him and whispered in his ear and ma'lik's attorney said i never heard his father say, i love you. an incredibly emotional day. these two juveniles being carried out and they will be committed today, candy. >> poppy harlow in steubenville, ohio. i want to bring in paul callan. you know, paul, a 16-year-old now just sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, still sound like 16 year olds. the other one 17. a 16-year-old victim.
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the thing is, when you listen to it and you realize that they could stay until they're 21, they are going to get credit for time served. what is the lasting effect, though, on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially? >> well, you know, candy, we've seen here a courtroom drenched in tears and tragedy and, you know, poppy's description, i think, you know, sums it all up. but across america scenes like this happen all the time. as a prosecutor and defense attorney, when that verdict is handed down, usually just the family and families of the defendants and the victims. always that moment of just lives are destroyed. and lives have already been destroyed by the crime. and we got a chance to see that. but in terms of what happens now, yeah, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. that label is now placed on them by ohio law and, by the way, the laws in most other states now
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require such a designation in the face of such a serious crime. that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. employers, when looking up their background will see they're registered sex offender. when they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the internet and these things are posted. neighbors will know they're a registered sex offender. it is really something that will have a lasting impact. much more of a lasting impact than going to a juvenile facility for one or two years. >> thanks. i want to bring poppy back in her. the 16-year-old victim, her life, never the same, again. i understand you have been talking to some of the families involved. >> her life never the same again. absolutely, candy. the last thing she wanted to do was sit on that stand and testify. she didn't want to bring these charges, it was up to her parents. a statement her mother just made, just made in the court after the sentencing. her mother just said that she
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has pity on the two young boys that did this. she said human compassion is not topped by teachers or coaches. it's a god-given gift. saying that you displayed a lack of compassion and a lack of moral code and saying you were your own accuser throughout this for posting about this all over social media. and she said she takes pity on them. as far as her daughter, she said she will persevere and get through this. the words of an angry mother who now has a sentence, i believe she would consider or a verdict, just. candy? >> of course, we will be following this story throughout the day. now to howard kurtz and "reliable sources." let me introduce fred francis and founder of 15seconds.com and lauren ashburn, editor of dailydownl d dailydownload.com. we just saw the steubenville verdict.
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trent mays one of the kids just convicted in this case tweeted pictures from that night when all of these guys surrounded and we've all seen that photo. we can put it up on the screen of the woman looking drunk and unconscious. he tweeted this himself. what is the reaction on social media with the two convictions this morning? >> pretty harsh towards these two boys. enjoy jail, you blank, see you in the joint. can't wait it meet you, i mean, beat you. a little others higher brow saying this is a victory for the college life movement. which is basically saying that, you know, they don't want drunken parties like this and girls to be taken advantage of. and that this speaks volumes for potential victims. >> and, you know, some of those pictures might not have been carried by the traditional media and why social media is such an important pipeline now. let me turn to the world of television news and talk about "today" show. when i sat down with matt lauer
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in new york he spoke out about the first time for nbc's decision to oust ann curry from "today" show a move for many people blame lauer. "i don't think the show and the network handled the transition well. you don't have to be an stein to know that. i clearly did not help us. the way she bid farewell to the audience. >> this is not how i ever pexected to leave this couch after 15 years, but i am so grateful especially to all of you that watch. matt and i and everyone who sit on this couch we often call ourselves a family, but you are the real "today" show family. and for all of you who saw me as a groundbreaker, i'm sorry i couldn't carry the ball over the finish line, but, man, i did try. >> that was an emotional moment. fred francis, you have been
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friend with matt lauer for a while. doesn't he bear some responsibility for the fact that the partnership with ann curry simply did not work? >> first, i was not surprised. he had been wanting to do this for a long time. he was held back by the leadership of comcast nbc. >> did not want him to speak out? >> did not want him to speak out? >> why? >> let this drip, drip, drip, drip into literally a tsunami of bad ink and it still continues. they finally let him speak out. you asked if he bear some of the responsibility. i say, no. it was not matt lauer's fault that ann curry couldn't do an interview well. not matt lau reer's fault that banter would sound wooden. matt lauer helped her and went overboard to make it seem like they were a family. >> that's certainly what the story says. but, howie, some people are
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saying that you gave softball questions and really allowed matt to just tell his side of the story. i'm turning the tables here. >> well, here's why i'm not worried about that. people want to criticize the piece, bring it on. i ask all the tough questions. i got him to say on the record that nbc, i think he included himself in this, had not handled it well. i talked to the former nbc news president who said that matt lauer repeatedly asked comcast to go slow, not be seen as pushing ann curry out the door too soon. i talked to the chief executive of nbc and asked him the hard questions. he told me, on the record, again, that when all this blew up and matt was getting all this bad press and offered to step aside, offered to leave "today" show if it would help and he said he would not hear of that. he thinks lauer does a great job. is lauer unfairly -- do you find what lauer and nbc executives now saying credible as far as
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saying it was not matt lauer's fault that ann curry experiment didn't work? >> they're saying what they want everyone to hear. you're saying that you accurately reported it. so, yes, i believe it. but the question i have is why now? as fred said, it bled ink, blood for a year and a half. why did matt when to you now? >> i'm glad you asked that. matt lauer didn't come to me. i had been trying to get this interview with matt lauer for four months. did he and the brass at nbc make the calculation think this was a good time to stop the bleeding and talk about the future of "today" show, i'm sure that's true. bunch of stories after my piece said it's all lauer's fault. "new york times" had a very anti-lauer piece and he might not even survive.
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let's explain to viewers what is going on. "new york" magazine had done an interview and "new york times" trying to beat that. everybody has their own agenda trying to uphold their part of it. what i did, i actually talked to people and did reporting and reported the facts. >> this wasn't the arrogance of matt lauer. what we're seeing here, why this was delayed so long, literally the arrogance at the top of comcast nbc to think they could ride this out and to let the blame fall on matt lauer. they fired jim bell -- >> well, he was moved to be in charge of olympic coverage. he was the executive producer of "today" show. >> he had -- >> don't make allegations you can't back up because people leave jobs. they weren't necessarily fired. >> they clashed over this issue and many other issues. but this is one of the issues that they clashed over. they didn't want, the guys at the top wanted her out quickly. matt lauer and steve and several
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others wanted to phase out over a long period of time. >> one other piece of this, there is no dispute that ann curry was not matt lauer's first choice. he wanted to bring back katie couric. katie couric and matt lauer had been talking about doing a syndicated show together and they planned, which nbc and katie couric was open to that they would spend like a year and a half together on "today" show and that would have been a bombshell. again, is that a reason to say that it's lauer's fault that there was a divorce in the "f " "today" show family with an curry. >> who was at the top of this? i really do believe that, well, i do believe that having your star, your key marquis player from a management point of view take the fall on something like this when your business is
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ratings and is dependent on how well that star does was a huge mistake. >> i got to get a break here. we're running a little late because of the breaking news. talk more on the situation with "today" show whether it can come back against "good morning america" on the other side. boug. nice try. says right here you can get one for $199 a month. you can't believe the lame-stream media, gary. they're all gone. maybe i'll get one. [ male announcer ] now everyone's going to want one. you can't have the same car as me, gary! i'm gettin' one. nope! [ male announcer ] volkswagen springtoberfest is here and there's no better time to get a passat. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease one of four volkswagen models for under $200 a month. visit vwdealer.com today. picasso painted one of his master works at 56. doris taerbaum finished her first marathon at 50. not everyone peaks in their twenties. throughout their lives.
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talking about "today" show being knocked out of first place and trying to come back. all of these columnists and reporters now writing that lauer has been so scarred by the ann
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curry episode that "today" show will never come back. can it be true he and savannah guthrie can't come back because of this ugly divorce with ann curry. >> you have momentum going for abc. being number two, some saying the people saying it is tired, it has run its course. a lot of criticism out there and i have to say that robin roberts' illness has gelled the abc family. they rallied around her and that word family that matt and katie and all of them were known for and ann is something that "today" show doesn't have. plus, they did not roll out savannah guthrie in a big way. >> they didn't deliberateness so savannah guthrie never got properly introduced to the audience. >> i think it can come back. i think you're already seeing in some of the demographics they even pulled with ann curry. my opposite take with the robin
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roberts, people were watching abc because of roberts' illness. >> but "gma" has done a good job. >> of course. >> you now see on "today" show as least i do as a 30-year nbcer chemistry. >> but the main story, thanks to howie right now, is this bringing it back up again about how there was a rift and a break in the family a. >> final question not having to do with chemistry or anchor but substance and content. matt lauer said "today" show was getting dark and depressing. he said he fought against those stories and often lost. now, they're doing, he says, more positive and uplifting stories. i see that, but is that what viewers want? >> viewers always say, polls always say, i want to see good news. i really want that. but then they don't watch. like those people who say, worldwide wrestling nobody watches it, but still number one in the ratings. breaking news going back to
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that rape conviction trial in steubenville, ohio. let's go to cnn's poppy harlow on the scene. >> hi. well, it's been an incredibly difficult day, as you know, in the courtroom and with me now nathaniel richmond, his son, ma'lik, 16 years old, has been found guilty on the charge of rape. he has been taken into custody to serve his time. being in that courtroom was very difficult for me to watch, to watch. it was very difficult for all parties involved. it was very difficult for you. when the judge handed down the sentence, you got out of the bench, you walked over to where ma'lik was sitting with his attorney and you held him and embraced him and didn't let go and you talked in his ear. i'm wondering what you said to him and how he's doing. >> well, i told ma'lik to put all his trust in god. god will see him through this. i told him that i love him, basically.
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and to be strong. >> we heard walter madison the attorney for your son say he heard you whisper i love you and he doesn't believe ma'lik heard that from you before. is that the case? is today the first day you told him that? >> basically. i hadn't been around in ma'lik's life like i should have been in the early years. i want to stress that parents need to get involved more in their kids' lives. like someone mentioned, be a parent, not a friend. teach your kids what alcohol and drugs can do to destroy their lives and teach your kids how to make decisions and to combat peer pressure. ma'lik got caught up in what you would call a love triangle and a
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lot of peer pressure. i still believe that ma'lik is innocent. a lot of things that went on behind closed doors that a lot of people don't know about. and then there's a political motive, also involved in this. as the evidence pointed out, there was only one of the state witnesses that placed ma'lik committing this actual act upon the victim and that same state witness was also a prime susp t suspect, mr. evan westlake who when my attorney tried to speak to him two weeks after had obtained a lawyer and made it impossible for us to talk with him and, also, like i say, was a
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prime suspect who was at the crime scene and his dna was never taken. >> that is testimony that we heard in court. of course, he's not here to defend himself. so, we don't want to hand down any charges but i do want to focus on -- >> he doesn't have to be here to defend himself because it's all in black and white and public record. >> mr. richmond, can we ask about your son. how is ma'lik doing right now? >> my son is okay and he is going to be okay. i believe in god, the one and only, the true god, is going to see ma'lik through this. thank you and have a nice day. >> thank you, sir. >> obviously, incredibly difficult for mr. richmond and incredibly difficult for everyone in there. i have been sitting next to him for the last nofour and a half days throughout this trial. not easy for anyone. he said in court, i believe that this is, in part, my fault.
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i take some responsibility for this because he said he wasn't there for ma'lik. he was from a broken home, a tough home and he went on to live with guardians and to try to turn his life around. a kid who had a lot of ahead of him and we hope after he serves his time, still does. >> poppy harlow, thanks very much, poppy, we will be right back. use cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. nlove. as americans, we believed lwe can'tin freedom.person we that's what i fought for as a marine, and that's what we believe in as republicans. freedom means freedom for
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come to meineke now for a free code scan read and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. the press covered the picking of a pope with the usual political chatter about the possible candidate speculation that, as it turned out, was almost all wrong. after the white smoke emerged, journalists scrambled to translate from latin and then tell us what they could about the new pope. >> we believe that the name they said was bergoglio. archbishop of argentina. >> he lived a modest life and is known as something of a champion for the poor. >> cardinal bergoglio was seen as the voice of conscious during argentina's crisis. an advocate of the poor not afraid to speak out against
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globalization. >> joining us now, laurie goodstein and here in washington, sally quinn. why didn't the press know it was bergoglio. that's not my question. my question is, how difficult was it during those long days to report on the conclave, on the proceedings when everything was shrouded in secrecy? >> right. well, it's always a guessing game and, you know, i think it had been eight years ago, we would have had those bergoglio's profiles written. this time the race was pretty wide open. there was one man to beat and that was the archbishop of milan. anglo scola. nobody was very prepared for this outcome. >> not like an american political campaign where you get to do the profiles. really, nobody knew until the last day when i heard chris
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cuomo on cnn first mention bergoglio as possible pope and he was. >> the problem with picking someone unknown like that is that you don't know what his past is. he could have possibly been involved in a scandal, too. there is no background check in this case. but it does seem it me that he's pretty clear. >> we'll come back to that. but given that journalists are presented suddenly with a cardinal of whom many not have heard. it is a joyous moment and thousands of people in st. peter's square, but seems that the coverage was a little too raptures. >> i did think that it was and i think that the church is so mired in scandal, both financial scandal and sexual scandal, that it's going to take a lot to clean up this church. and the problems they have are so deep and here is a pope that
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has never been part of the curia. so, i don't know whether it would require somebody from within, but he is a 76-year-old guy who's never been in rome and never been part of that inner circle and they don't want reform there. >> sometimes it takes an outsider candidate. laurie goodstein he met with what looked like hundreds if not thousands of journalists yesterday and made a little joke of, you're working hard. is it true that as the reports suggest that he did a good job of charming the press corps? >> he did. there were about 5,000 reporters there but they also tell reporters, bring your family, bring your friends. so, it's really an opportunity for the pope to kind of win over the journalists. john paul ii did that. and pope benedict with probably less, you know, less impact he chided the journalists a little bit. i think cardinal bergoglio, pope
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francis set a different tone. he did something different at the end of the audience, he gave them a blessing. that's traditional. i'll give you a silent blessing because i acknowledge that you follow your own consciouses and some of you may not be catholic and some may not have any faith at all and i'll bless you anyway. i think that kind of gesture, you know, is noticed. it's, you know, i took it as a sign of respect. now, it could be interpreted other ways, as well. he is trying to telegraph, i want a relationship with you. you know, i want to be in conversation with you. and i think, you know, i think people, some people were won over. >> did some journalists, laurie, just briefly line-up to meet the pope and bow down and kiss his ring? >> well, there were a few. there was a blind journalist who came up with his dog and he patted the dog but a lot of
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different kinds of journalists in that crowd. journalists for catholic newspapers. so, those are the folks who would come up to the front to, you know, to kiss his ring. and not main stream american reporters. >> i bet some american politicians wouldn't mind that treatment. you referenced the child abuse scandals that have rocked the church and the vatican in recent years. there are also questions being asked now as we turn to the more different phrase and the coverage of pope francis of his years in argentinargentina, the torture, people disappeared. did he do enough to fight against it? he said he helped hide some people from the military. do you think these questions, enough of these questions and can we really answer these questions? >> you know, i've read enough of the stories to know that there are some questions about it, but it doesn't seem that he did anything wrong. it may not be that he was as outspoken as he could have been. i think there are two things that are interesting about this pope. first, that he's a jesuit and jesuits are much more
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intellectual and often more left leaning. there are some jesuits who did speak out and were punished and he wasn't one of those, although he did hide some people. the other thing, taking of the name st. francis. we know that he's anti-abortion. we know that he is, anti-birth control. >> those are the teachings of the church. >> he is anti-homosexual. but the one area he may be good in is the area of women in the church. st. francis had a best friend forever. bff who was named clare and she also came from a very wealthy family and gave up all of her belongings to go be with the poor and she and francis were best friends and they worked together their whole lives. >> fascinating story. >> and she, i think that clare and this order that she started, he may be much more to having women in the church.
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>> last question, laurie goodstein, i have half a minute. the fact that the pope is from south america. the first pope outside of europe from hundreds of years. from astic point of view, doesn't that just make it a better story? >> four out of ten catholics in latin america. two-thirds of catholics are in the global south. so, this is change. i mean, the church is shifting to the south away from europe. and now having a pope that is a standard-bearer for those catholics is going to make for a very good story. >> laurie goodstein in rome, sally quinn, thank you very much. ten years after the invasion of iraq, we'll look back at pretty divstating media failure in just a moment. and parked it at a mall. in texas. for two days. then put a febreze car vent clip on the dash and let in real people. it smells good. like laundry fresh out of like the dryer.
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it was a drum beat, a deafening drum beat in the wake of 9/11, as president bush and vice president cheney and others had emassed that they started building a case for war and the media all too often acted as an echo chamber. >> we don't want the smoking gun -- >> there's no question but saddam hussein and they will welcome as liberators the united states when we come to do that. >> the white house hopes to call for a vote on the deadline resolution early next week. if it passes, then by march 17th as a senior official, saddam hussein will finally be out of final opportunity. even if it doesn't pass, the president has left no doubt that he's ready to go to war. >> this is fox news and fox news channel continuing coverage of the campaign which now has begun to liberate and disarm iraq.
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>> joining us now, rajiv chandrasakaren and mark thompson who covers national security and military for "time" magazine and fred francis, the founder of 15-seconds.com. rajiv, didn't most of the media get rolled during the bush administration during this run-up to war? >> a lot of critical reporting out there. make no excuses for it. but i think it's a little too simpplistic to say the press just rolled over for the bush administration. take for instance the principal claim, they are citing intelligence reports. now, putting aside some of the more extreme stuff, i'm not going to apologize for some of judy miller's coverage in "new york times" for instance, but when it comes to some of these
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claims, journalists who have good resources can just drive up to langley and say to the cia, hey, look, let me see if the source material for that. >> you are right with this exception. i reported on this when i was at "washington post." it was something like 140 front-page pieces between august of 2002 and the date of the invasion carrying the administration's case for war and on the occasions when reporters wrote they were buried, minimized and spiked and bob woodward told me he felt he should have tried harder to get past the group thing. this wasn't an easy case to crack, but -- >> i'll admit, i didn't do a great job. i thought i was one of the best national correspondents in washington, and i did not do a good job. however, this is not easy work to do. not one intelligenceagy in the world, not the cia and not even saddam's people knew that he didn't have the weapons of mass
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destruction. >> it's worth noting, howie, not only did the u.s. government exaggerate his potential possession of weapons of mass destruction, but saddam wanted everybody to believe he had weapons of mass destruction. >> to make him look stronger with his own people. >> it ruly looked -- >> let's recall the atmosphere in the wake of 9/11 when some journalists were wearing flag pins. if you doubted or too skeptical of what bush and cheney and rumsfeld and rice were saying, maybe you didn't support the troops. maybe you were unpatriotic. >> i know fred knows this, but cheney was defense secretary during the first gulf war. there was a sense of trust that many a of the military reporters had for him. now, that was, that was ruined later on, but the fact of the matter was, we had the saddam hussein hangover from the first gulf war and then we had saddam hussein trying to kill the elder president bush in kuwait, alleg allegedly, in 1993 and then 9/11
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happened. there really was a sort of snowballing kind of thing and the press, to some degree was taken for a ride. >> i won't disagree with that. but i didn't want to be with the troops. when i went to war, i snuck into iraq so i could do with kurds of new york. those were the only ones that knew there were weapons of mass destruction. saddam had killed tens of thousands of kurds with poison gas. but even there, howie, the cia guys that i worked with in the north, the special forces guys, even the president of iraq today,hey believed he had weapons of mass destruction. so, who was i to say they weren't? >> since you snuck in and that is the whole embedding program created by the pentagon. a lot of people thought this was great. reporters get to be on the front lines, see combat and some were killed and some injured. it enabled commanders and soldiers to many people thought spin the press and sensor their copy. >> i am of that group. i didn't want it be embedded.
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i could have had my pick of units because i was the correspondent. i didn't want that feeling that i had to protect or not report on something. and those who were embedded did some great reporting, as it turned out. but what stories were not covered? i don't know that. >> i want to and back to you, i understand what you're saying, this is a very, you couldn't go to iraq without getting killed. you couldn't go to the cia and if you had been able to walk the halls of the cia, most of the analysts believe whether it was cooked or exaggerated by their higher ups that the evidence pointed to wmds. new york's editor note too many credulous claims of saddam and iraq. made a mistake of not putting more skeptical stories on the front page. even people who ran the news organization seem to acknowledge that they had fallen short. >> indeed, far more than we could have done. i was in iraq for the six months
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leading up to the war. what you couldn't do is get an independent assessment you could, but, howie, not just the issue of weapons of mass destruction. the broader question. what is the political transition plan. the white house's claim physical iraq could pay for it, the reconstruction of its country. the questions of the long simmering tensions between the principal and religious and ethnic groups in the country. these were questions that were all easily reportable and should have had more coverage and we didn't do enough in really aggressively looking at all of that. >> but then on the tone, television did put some voices on the air that were anti-ware or skeptical about the claims about saddam. she said, you know, they were put on the air and then condescended to and that became the face of the anti-war movement. i'm wondering whether or not we collectively journalists could
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have done a better job seeking out those who were skeptical. >> what's interesting, you mention the echo chamber effect here. it was set by "new york times." "new york times" got a leak saying aluminum tubes and senior administration members go on tv and point on that leak as if they didn't plant that leak. it took pete at my old outfit to ask some tough questions. but they were sort of, you know, sidelined because they weren't a big outfit. >> half a minute. we deal with iran, libya, syria and north korea and have the media learn the lesson of not the other failure and the failings of iraq ten years ago. >> when president obama asked a senior cia official whether he was certain that osama bin laden i was sacertain and even more
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certain than wmd in iraq. >> who said that? >> senior cia official told obama that. we're still going to make mistakes. both the cia and journalists. >> fred francis, mark thomson rajiv chadraasakaren. is jeb bush right. a conversation with jake tapper. cinnamon toast crunch. 'cause that cinnamon and sugar is so irresistible. [ slurps ] [ chuckles ] everybody craves those crazy squares. (music throughout) why turbo?
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there is fresh evidence this week that the tense relationship between the white house and the media is not so much a war as a series of squirmishes that keep breaking out. i spoke earlier about the press and politics with jake tapper, whose program, "the lead" debuts on monday. jake tapper, welcome. >> great it be here. >> white house press secretary carney was interviewed by jenna lee and the white house tours have been canceled and carney said, actually, jenna, if you did a little reporter. you're still working on a type writer. so, is there now a relationship between white house reporters of which you are one and the press secretary?
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>> well, i mean, for me, at least, it hasn't started now. i have beened a ver serial since i started and at least for me. >> but some people saying this white house is tougher, more aggressive against the press than some of its predecessors. >> look, in 2000, the bush campaign was a senior official with the bush campaign talked with another reporter about the possibility of throwing me off the plane. >> what did you do? >> my questions were apparently not deferential enough and my stories were apparently not flattering enough. my only point is, however i have, yes, i have had unpleasant phone calls and conversations with people in the obama administration, but i had them with the bush administration and that's -- well, it's part of the job. the truth of the matter is, i never really understood the people who get a nasty phone call and then go on tv to talk about it. it's part of the job.
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you do a story they don't like, you're going to get yelled at and you listen to them or you yell back and then you move on. >> this is what you signed up for. let me ask you about journalists often accused, as you know, about caring less about issues, substance governing and jeb bush on "meet the press" last week raised this point with david gregory. >> before i let you go, who is the hottest florida politician right now? you or marco rubio? who are we more likely to see in the white house? >> man, you guys are crack addic addicts. you really are obsessed with all this politics. >> i have been called a lot of things. >> crack addicts. that's a serious charge. >> i mean, look, obviously, if there's a politician versus a reporter, my first inclination is to go with the reporter. but, obviously, a lot of 2016 speculation. >> jeb bush went on five sunday shows, probably not unrelated to
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the fact that he might possibly considering an exploratory committee to run for president. >> look, i agree. i mean, you know, obviously, he is considering running for president. and at the same time, another florida republican is considering running for president. >> legitimate question. >> i mean, maybe hottest wasn't the way i would have put it. but ultimately, yeah. it seems rather odd to be considering a presidential run and this is not, this is not specific to jeb bush, but this whole cubookie that they're not considering him and we're not -- >> haven't seen thought about it. >> we're not supposed to ask about it is silly. he is considering running for president. he hasn't made a decision. he is considering running for president. that is a reported fact that i know. i'm sure david gregory knows. we all know. that's okay. i don't understand why -- the ha ha ha